Method and System for Wireless Message-Based Advertising

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for message-based advertising in a wireless communications network are described. A digital message is contained in a data packet set in transit from a terminal of a sender to a terminal of a recipient. At least one of the terminals is implemented as a mobile telephone. The digital message is received through a network connection. A processor determines a context for the digital message and matches the message context to content of advertisements stored in an advertisement database in order to identify at least one relevant advertisement. The data packet set is transmitted to the terminal of the recipient. A processor retrieves the relevant advertisement(s) from the advertisement database and generates a confirmation message containing a delivery status of the data packet set. The confirmation message includes the relevant advertisement and is transmitted to the terminal of the sender.

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Application SerialNo. 61/027,269, filed Feb. 8, 2008, which application is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. This application is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/368,071, filed Feb. 9, 2009,titled “Method and System for Wireless Message-Based Advertising” (nowU.S. Pat. No. 8,315,178).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to message communication over wirelessnetworks, and more particularly to advertising over wireless networks.

BACKGROUND ART

In the early 2000's, advertising to mobile phones evolved. The earlyadvertising models broadcast advertisements to mobile users via shortmessage service (SMS) ad campaigns. These models are based onapplication-to-peer ad delivery.

Some advertisers offer mobile users subsidized wireless communication inexchange for willingness to receive their ads. In this regard, recent USand international surveys have discovered that a main challenge for useradoption of mobile advertising is the intrusive nature of ad delivery.

To date, mobile advertising has been missing the main source of wirelessdata traffic; namely, the peer-to-peer market. Peer-to-peercommunication accounts for more than 80% of SMS traffic, but thistraffic is hidden from content providers and ad agencies. One of theconstraints on the wider use of the SMS is the limit of 140 bytes worthof data. With a currently used GSM 03.38 alphabet set, supported by mostSMS-centers (SMSCs) and SMS gateways and taking only 7-bit percharacter, 160 characters can be fitted into the length of the message.Typically, however, a large percentage of SMS messages include free,unused space within this standard size allotted for SMS.

Some prior art systems insert advertisements into peer-to-peer SMSmessages, but this insertion takes place by interception of incomingmessages at the signaling layer of the wireless communications network.However, interception of incoming messages at the signaling layer forinsertion of advertisements has some drawbacks. Communication at thesignaling layer is visible to service providers but is hidden from thecontent providers and ad agencies. Thus, advertisers have difficultyinserting ads into messages and subsidizing communications in exchangefor ad placement. Also, intercepting messages at the signaling layerrequires significant modification of the core network architecture andleads to redundant infrastructure as to existing messaging centers.

Additionally, many prior art systems insert advertisements intorecipient outgoing messages in peer-to-peer communication. This method,however, also presents some drawbacks. While the objective of mobileadvertisement is to subsidize part or all of the communication servicescost by displaying ads to subscribers for using the services, in manyprior art systems, the advertisement is delivered to the recipientinstead of the sender who is the subscriber to the service. Such amethod allows the advertiser to subsidize the receipt of the message,but often times, the charges for sending the message is greater than thecharge for receipt, which is often times free.

Efficient coding and space allocation are of great importance in nextgeneration wireless networks, which are expected to handle various typesof highly demanding multimedia users. It would thus be beneficial tohave a mobile advertising model that leverages the peer-to-peercommunication traffic, increases its efficiency, and that provides anon-intrusive user experience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are directed tomessage-based advertising in a wireless communications network.Illustrative embodiments of the method include receiving a digitalmessage through a network connection. The digital message is containedin a data packet set in transit from a terminal of a sender to aterminal of a recipient. At least one of the terminals is implemented asa mobile telephone. A processor determines a context for the digitalmessage and matches the message context to content of advertisementsstored in an advertisement database in order to identify at least onerelevant advertisement. The data packet set is transmitted to theterminal of the recipient. A processor retrieves the relevantadvertisement(s) from the advertisement database and generates aconfirmation message containing a delivery status of the data packetset. The confirmation message includes the relevant advertisement and istransmitted to the terminal of the sender.

A system for message-based advertising in a wireless communicationsnetwork includes a first digital storage medium in which is stored anadvertisement database. Each advertisement from the advertisementdatabase is characterized by content. A receiver receives a digitalmessage through a network connection. The digital message is interceptedwhile in transit from a terminal of a sender to a terminal of arecipient. At least one of the terminals is implemented as a mobiletelephone. The digital message is contained in a data packet set. Acontext analyzer is configured to determine a context of the digitalmessage and a rule engine matches the determined message context withcontent of advertisements stored in an advertisement database toidentify at least one relevant advertisement. A database managerretrieves the at least one relevant advertisement from the advertisementdatabase. A message generator generates a confirmation messagecontaining a delivery status of the data packet set. The confirmationmessage includes the at least one relevant advertisement. A transmittertransmits the data packet set to the terminal of the recipient and theconfirmation to the terminal of the sender.

In some or all of the above described embodiments, the networkconnection may be an IP network connection. Furthermore, the terminal ofthe sender and the terminal of the recipient may both be mobiletelephones.

Some or all of the above described embodiments may use sender profiles.In some embodiments, the sender may subscribe for wireless message-basedadvertising. A database manager may retrieve a sender profile stored ina profile database. A rule engine may use the sender profile and thecontext for the digital message to identify at least one sender-relevantadvertisement. The message generator may generate a confirmation messagecontaining the delivery status of the data packet set and at least onesender-relevant advertisement. In illustrative embodiments, theconfirmation message is responsive to a delivery request made by thesender and/or the confirmation message is an acknowledgment of receiptof the digital message.

Some or all of the above described embodiments may use recipientprofiles. Recipients may be subscribers for wireless message-basedadvertising. A recipient profile may be stored in a profile database. Arecipient profile and the context for the digital message may be used toidentify the at least one recipient-relevant advertisement. A messagetransformer then inserts the least one recipient-relevant advertisementinto the data packet set before it is transmitted to the recipient. Inillustrative embodiments, the digital message may be transformed fromone communications protocol to another and/or an audio clip, image, orvideo may be attached to the digital message.

Embodiments of the present invention apply to a variety of communicationchannels, including SMS, EMS, MMS, WAP Push protocol and such otherchannels. Embodiments of the present invention enable advertisers tooffer people subsidized wireless communication in exchange forwillingness to receive their message-based ads.

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are also directed tomethods and systems for message-based advertising where the digitalmessage is transformed from one communications protocol to another.Illustrative embodiments of the method include receiving a digitalmessage through a network connection. The digital message is interceptedwhile in transit from a terminal of a sender to a terminal of arecipient. At least one of the terminals is implemented as a mobiletelephone. The digital message is contained in a data packet set havinga first communications protocol. A processor is used to determine acontext for the digital message and to match the determined messagecontext with content of advertisements stored in an advertisementdatabase in order to identify at least one relevant advertisement. Atleast one relevant advertisement is retrieved from the advertisementdatabase. A processor inserts the relevant advertisement(s) into thedata packet set and transforms the data packet set from the firstcommunications protocol to a second communications protocol. The datapacket set is then transmitted to the terminal of the recipient.

Illustrative embodiments of a system for message-based advertising wherethe digital message is transformed from one communications protocol toanother include a first digital storage medium which stores anadvertisement database. Each advertisement from the advertisementdatabase is characterized by content. A receiver receives a digitalmessage through a network connection. The digital message is interceptedin transit from a terminal of a sender to a terminal of a recipient. Atleast one of the terminals is implemented as a mobile telephone. Thedigital message is contained in a data packet set in a firstcommunications protocol. A context analyzer determines a context of thedigital message. A rule engine matches the determined message contextwith content of advertisements stored in an advertisement database inorder to identify at least one relevant advertisement. A databasemanager retrieves the relevant advertisement(s) from the advertisementdatabase. A message transformer inserts the relevant advertisement(s)into the data packet set to transform the data packet set from the firstcommunications protocol to a second communications protocol. Atransmitter then transmits the data packet set to the terminal of therecipient.

Some or all of the above described embodiments where the digital messageis transformed from one communications protocol to another may userecipient profiles. In some or all of the above described embodiments,the recipients are subscribers to the wireless message-based advertisingsystem. A second digital storage medium stores a profile databasecontaining profiles of recipients. The database manager may be furtherconfigured to retrieve a recipient profile stored in the profiledatabase. The rule engine may be use the recipient profile and thecontext for the digital message to identify the relevantadvertisement(s).

In some or all of the above described embodiments where the digitalmessage is transformed from one communications protocol to another, thenetwork connection may be an IP network connection. Furthermore, theterminal of the sender and the terminal of the recipient may both bemobile telephones. Also, the data packet set may include a digital textmessage and the rule engine may be used to determine an amount of unusedspace in the data packet set.

In some or all of the above described embodiments where the digitalmessage is transformed from one communications protocol to another, thefirst communications protocol may be an SMS protocol and the secondcommunications protocol may be a concatenated SMS, EMS, MMS or WAP Pushprotocol. Also, when the message is transformed, an audio clip, image,or video may be attached to the data packet set.

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention also provide mobiletelephone users with notification of e-mails. Such embodiments includefetching e-mails of the users. In the course of fetching, each e-mailtargeted to multiple recipients is identified and fetching of anypreviously fetched e-mail targeted to multiple recipients is avoided. Anotification of receipt of an e-mail is then sent to each user withrespect to whom an e-mail has been fetched.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated fromthe following detailed description, taken in conjunction with thedrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of a mobile advertising workflow, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a system for message-basedadvertising, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of the advertising platform 200 ofthe embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 provides further detail of the advertising platform 200 of FIG. 2in an end-to-end implementation;

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary wireless communication network, in which anembodiment of the present invention operates;

FIG. 6 is a simplified flow chart of a sender workflow for message-basedadvertising, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a simplified flow chart of a recipient workflow formessage-based advertising, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a flow chart showing processing steps foran e-mail conversion system in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to message-based advertising forpeer-to-peer, application-to-peer, and peer-to-application messaging.Targeted ads are inserted within SMS and other such messages, by anadvertising platform, and thus delivered to senders and recipients ofmessages. In some embodiments of the present invention, the targeted adsare inserted within unused space of the messages, and thus havenegligible or no impact on network capacity.

Definitions. As used in this description and the accompanying claims,the following terms shall have the meanings indicated, unless thecontext otherwise requires:

An “ad” or “advertisement” refers to either a user-relevantadvertisement or other information relevant to a user, a sender, or arecipient, of the wireless mobile communication services.

A “message” is a data packet set delivered peer-to-peer with the use ofa wireless communication service. A “message”, therefore, includes anydata packet set processed by a mobile instant messaging service (such asIM, text messaging, SMS, concatenated SMS), an enhanced message service(EMS), a multi-media messaging service (MMS), or any other data packetset originating through the use of a textual wireless communicationservice, such as Email.

To “insert” data into a data packet set means to include the data in thedata packet set, regardless whether by attachment as an appendix or as aconnection or by placement directly within the data packet set itself.

A “mobile telephone” is a wireless transceiver for use in a wirelesscommunication system, and the term includes devices, capable of wirelessdigital data communication, such as a cell phone or a smartphone.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which provides an exemplaryillustration of a mobile advertising workflow in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. Shown in FIG. 1 are mobile phones150 and 160, and an advertising platform 200. The advertising platform200 may be embodied as a computer system having a processor and anassociated digital storage medium. The sender and/or the recipient maybe a subscriber for wireless message-based advertising with advertisingplatform 200. In specific embodiments, the subscribers to the wirelessmessage-based advertising service may have an option of locally(de)activating by a user-defined input provided for the system through,for example, a mobile-phone user interface. As shown in FIG. 1,illustrative embodiments of the workflow may involves five stages.

At stage (1) a user of mobile phone 150, the sender, using subscriberclient software installed in mobile phone 150, or native clientavailable on the device (such as SMS client) issues a SEND SMS request,to send a mobile originated (MO) message 151 to a user of mobile phone160, the recipient. The MO is not limited to an SMS, it may also be aconcatenated SMS, EMS, MMS, or e-mail. In illustrative embodiments ofthe present invention, the message is sent to a pre-defined short codeon the operator messaging center which the advertising platform 200 isregistered to receive inbound SMS over an internet protocol (IP) networkconnection for example using an SMPP protocol. Alternatively, thesubscriber client software in mobile phone 150 delivers the message toadvertising platform 200 over an IP connection using the operatorGeneral Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network. By delivering the messageto an advertising platform 200 over a network connection, such as an IPnetwork connection, advertisers and content providers are provided withaccess to the message.

In general, the subscriber software installed in mobile phone 150performs a variety of functions, including but not limited to:

-   -   Subscription to advertising platform 200 via SMS and web/WAP.    -   Personalization of a subscriber's service with respect to        preferred ad channels and data-delivery options, as further        discussed with reference to personalization service 552 of FIG.        4.    -   Sending SMS messages to users.    -   Replying to messages received from users.    -   Wireless advertising of the platform 200.    -   Redemption of ad campaign prices and coupons.    -   Opting-out from service, as further discussed in reference to        personalization service 552 of FIG. 4.

At stage (2), a computer program product used by advertising platform200 receives an incoming message 151, from the subscriber's mobile phone150, pushes the incoming message 151 into its processing queue, logs thetransaction, and triggers a workflow process described by events A-D.Event A looks up personal profiles of the sender and the recipient. Ifthe recipient is not a subscriber to advertising platform 200, thenevent A only looks up the personal profile of the sender.

Event B analyzes message 151 and classifies message 151 based on amessage context, a message size, a current date & time, a prioritylevel, and other parameters. For example, message 151 may be classifiedunder “food and drink” based on the work “drink” appearing in message151.

Event C queries a database or an advertising server computer for one ormore relevant ads that match the sender's preferences and the context ofincoming message 151. If the recipient is a subscriber to theadvertising platform 200, then event C also queries the database or theadvertising server computer for one or more relevant ads that match therecipient's preferences and the context of the message 151. In addition,in some embodiments of the invention, the queries are directed to adsthat are small enough in size to fit within free, unused space allocatedfor the message 151. The found relevant ads may be further optionallyranked based on an ad content provider policy, and based on lastoccurrence of delivery of the ads to the sender or the recipient.

Event D transforms the message 151 to a transformed message 161, byinserting additional information—such as one or more ads that match therecipient's profile—in the body of the message. The transformed message161 of FIG. 1 is shown to include an advertisement for Budweiser beer.In illustrative embodiments of the present invention, the message can betransformed from one communications protocol to another. For example,the advertising platform 200 may receive a message in SMS format, insertan advertisement, and then transform the message into concatenated SMSif the total message length exceeds 160 characters or standard maximummessage length based on the supported encoding format. In someembodiments, the advertising platform 200 may receive a message in SMSformat, transform the message into MMS format, which supports multimediaobjects and, then insert an advertisement with an image, audio clip, orvideo into the message. The transformation of the message into adifferent communications protocol may be dependent on the type ofprotocol supported by the recipient's mobile phone 160 and/or serviceprovider.

At stage (3) the advertising platform 200 delivers transformed message161 to the operator network servicing the recipient, via a messageaggregator or via direct connection to the operator messaging center. Inturn, the operator network delivers the transformed message to therecipient.

At stage (4) the advertising platform 200 sends a confirmation message152 to the sender. In specific embodiments such confirmation may beinitiated by the sender's SEND SMS request. The confirmation messageincludes a delivery status and one or more ads that match the sender'sprofile. For example, the confirmation message may be responsive to adelivery request made by the sender or may be an acknowledgment ofreceipt of the digital message.

As seen in FIG. 1, confirmation message 152 includes a “Don't Drink andDrive” ad that corresponds to the contents of the incoming message 151.This confirmation message may be sent in any one of a SMS, concatenatedSMS, EMS, MMS, WAP Push or e-mail format or simply a response to thesend request via the available delivery bearer. The format of theconfirmation message may be dependent on the type of protocol supportedby the sender's mobile phone 150 and/or service provider.

At stage (5) the recipient is notified of the arrival of transformedmessage 161, either by the operating system of his mobile phone 160, orby subscriber client software within mobile phone 160. The recipient isthen able to access the conventional SMS functions such as forward,save, and delete to process the arrived message further at hisdiscretion.

As explained above, in illustrative embodiments of the presentinvention, the inserted ad may be sent to only the recipient. In somecases, the confirmation message with the inserted ad 152 may be sent toonly the sender. Other times, an ad may be delivered to both therecipient and the sender through, respectively, the transformed message161 and message confirmation 152. Whether or not an ad is sent to therecipient and/or the sender may be dependent on whether the recipientand/or the sender is a subscriber to the advertising platform 200.

In illustrative embodiments of the present invention, advertisers andcontent providers may subsidize wireless messaging using the advertisingplatform of the present invention. In return for receiving high-valuetargeted advertisements, subscribers (both senders and recipients) getfree or subsidized messaging services (e.g., SMS, EMS, MMS, or e-mailservices). Also, because of the relatively non-intrusive nature of theinsertion, network operators may be able to maintain their existingnetwork infrastructure without needing to increase network capacity.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which is a simplified block diagram ofa system for message-based advertising, in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention. Shown in FIG. 2 are the two mobile phones 150and 160 connected to an operator wireless (e.g., GSM with GPRS) network300, and a desktop computer 410 connected to Internet 400. The mobilephones 150, 160 and the desktop computer 410 are examples of userterminals. Also shown in FIG. 2 is an advertising platform 200 thataccesses a database 230 of personal profiles for its subscribers.Database 230 includes personal subscriber information for eachsubscriber to the advertising platform 200. Subscriber profiles mayinclude inter alia subscriber demographics, preferences, interests,hobbies and salary range.

As shown in FIG. 2, a user of a mobile phone 150, the sender, sends amessage to a user of another mobile phone 160, the recipient, via awireless network 300. The message is received while in transit by theadvertising platform 200. The platform 200 is configured to insert oneor more relevant ads into the incoming message to form an outgoingmessage that is transmitted to the recipient. As explained above, theadvertising platform 200 may also transmit a confirmation message to thesender, the confirmation message includes a delivery status of themessage and one or more relevant ads.

It will be appreciated from FIG. 2 that the platform 200 may beconfigured to serve a computer 410 as well as mobile phones 150 and 160.Such a configuration may utilize and be associated with, for example, alocal termination model or an international termination model that arewidely used by SMS gateway providers to facilitate the SMS trafficbetween businesses and mobile subscribers. Accordingly, a computer usermay send or receive, over the wireless communication service, a datapacket such as a text message. Similarly, the advertising platform 200may be utilized as part of SMS-to-email services.

FIG. 3 provides a simplified block diagram of the advertising platform200, of the embodiment of FIG. 2. As shown, the advertising platform 200includes a receiver 210, for receiving incoming data packets, such asmessage 151 of FIG. 1, and a transmitter 220 for transmitting outgoingdata packets, such as messages 152 and 161.

The advertising platform 200 is additionally running computer processesto access personal profiles of its subscribers from the subscriberprofiles database 230. Subscriber profiles include user preferences foreach subscriber, which enable advertising platform 200 to identify adsthat are relevant to a given subscriber. The subscriber profile may beupdated in several ways. For example, in some embodiments, thisinformation may be entered by the user through a website associated withthe database 230. The subscriber may log-in to the website and selecthis favorite soft drink, sports franchise, or clothing retailer. Adatabase manager 240 would then update the subscriber's profile. Inother embodiments, the database manager 240 and advertising platform 200dynamically develop the subscriber's profile by monitoring the user'sbehavior. The platform 200 may analyze the content of the subscriber'smessages, to whom the messages are sent or received from, the time theysend messages, and from where they send messages (e.g., geographiclocation). For example, if the subscriber mentions the Toronto MapleLeafs in multiple messages and he consistently sends messages fromMontreal, the platform 200 may conclude that the subscriber spends timein Montreal and that the Maple Leafs are his favorite franchise. Theplatform 200 and database manager 240 may then update the user's profileto reflect that his location is Montreal and his favorite franchise isthe Maple Leafs. The advertising platform 200 may then send thesubscriber advertisements directed to Maple Leafs merchandise in theMontreal area. In such a manner, the information in the subscriberprofiles is used by the advertising platform 200 to discover ads thatare relevant to a given subscriber.

The advertising platform 200 is also running computer processes toaccess a database 440 of advertisements, via a database manager 450. Theadvertisements database 440 and the profile database 230 may be embodiedin single or separate digital storage mediums associated with thecomputer system. Each ad in the database 440 is characterized by contentsuch as keyword(s). The content of an ad is used to match the ad with asubscriber profile and/or the context of the incoming message, so thatthe ad is delivered to subscribers for whom it is relevant. For example,if the incoming message 151 says: “John, where do you want to go fordrinks?”, the advertising platform 200 could search for advertisementsrelated to alcohol because the context of the message relates todrinking and the subscriber profile indicates that the subscriber's ageis above the legal age for drinking alcohol. In this case, theadvertising platform may insert an advertisement for Budweiser beer intothe message.

The advertising platform 200 further includes a message generator 250,implemented as a computer process, for generating a confirmation for thesender. The confirmation may generally comprise a delivery status of themessage that has been sent by the sender to the recipient or animmediate response as acknowledgment for receiving the incoming messagefrom the sender, and one or more ads that are relevant to the sender.Various embodiments of the present invention may deliver theconfirmation message 152 in a number of different protocols (e.g., HTTPResponse, SMS, EMS, MMS, e-mail, and audio or video packet).

The platform 200 also includes a message transformer, or attacher, 260,also implemented as a computer process, that transforms an incomingmessage, such as the incoming message 151 of FIG. 1, to an outgoingmessage, such as message 161, by inserting, if desired, into theoutgoing message 161 one or more ads that are relevant to the recipient.In some embodiments, the transformer 260 may also transform the incomingmessage 151 from one communications protocol to another. For example,the transformer 260 may insert a video advertisement into the incomingmessage 151 and transform the message into a multimedia message (MMS).

Furthermore, the advertising platform 200 may include a contextanalyzer, which derives the context of the incoming message 151. Thecontext analyzer analyses the text of the incoming message. The analyzerlooks for keywords in the text that are associated with a particularadvertising category. For example, the advertising categories mayinclude food, travel, and sports. There may be specific keywords thatare associated with each category. The words “bar,” “restaurant,” “eat,”“hungry,” and “food” may be associated with the food category. Thus, ifan incoming message 151 says: “Let's go eat, I am hungry”, the contextanalyzer will find the key words “eat” and “hungry,” and will know thatthe context of the message is food. The above described description isjust one example of how a context analyzer works. Context analyzers thatfunction differently and that are more sophisticated than the exampledescribed above are also within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 4 provides further detail of an exemplary embodiment of theadvertising platform 200 of FIG. 2 in an end-to-end implementation. Themain components of the embodiment of FIG. 4 are the advertising platform200 and a portal 550. The portal 550 is a Web/WAP based portal forbridging various external systems 561 through 564 that use the platform200. The advertising platform 200 operates in conjunction with portal550 in providing direct access to content providers and advertisingagencies 561, subscribers 562, and administrators. In addition, theportal 550 exposes the content-management activities of campaignmanager, and provides a simple workflow for managing the life cycles ofadvertisements. The portal 550 includes several modules; namely, asubscription module 551, a personalization module 552, a campaign mangermodule 553, and a customer relationship management (CRM) module 554.

The portal 550 and its several modules implement an access control listfor role-based authentication, enabling assignment of differentresponsibilities to different user levels. An exemplary list follows.

Content providers and ad agencies:

-   -   Provisioning of service and channel, including delivery workflow    -   Content life cycle management including inter alia content        provisioning, verification, publishing, maintenance and        retirement    -   Business intelligence reporting on different aspects of mobile        ad delivery

Subscribers:

-   -   Self provisioning    -   Service personalization    -   Account management    -   Ad interaction    -   Ad archiving    -   Ad redemption

Administrator:

-   -   Operation    -   Administration    -   Management    -   Service life cycle management

Generally, the advertising platform 200 includes common services withfunctions to deliver and trace ads using a broad spectrum of deliverychannels including inter alia SMS, EMS, MMS, VOP, WAP Push, J2ME, BREWand mobile browsing. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the platform 200 isshown as a J2EE-based enterprise class application, implemented using adistributed architecture for large scale deployment. The advertisingplatform 200 may be built using components-based architecture andutilize an enterprise service bus (ESB) 505 to facilitate asynchronousand synchronous communication between its various components.

Advertising platform 200 includes a Service Integration Framework forbrokering requests and responses. The Service Integration Frameworkincludes interfaces required for integration with network elements, andwith external systems such as (i) content delivery systems, (ii) contentprovider and aggregator systems, (iii) messaging aggregators, and (iv)operator network systems for message delivery, rating and billing. TheService Integration Framework is based on the ESB architecture, whichfacilitates application and process integration by providing distributedprocessing, intelligent routing, security and dynamic datatransformation.

As shown in FIG. 4, ESB 505 may be implemented as a distributed,heterogeneous infrastructure. The ESB 505 is used to manage the serviceinfrastructure and to provide the capability to operate in a distributedheterogeneous environment. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the ESB 505enhances the advertising platform 200 with an asynchronous messagedriven architecture.

The ESB 505 may include components and interfaces for binding tointernal and external services. The ESB 505 enables both WebServices andtransport binding for services such as e-mail, file system, and instantmessaging, via standard service interfaces including but not limited toJavaMail, HTTP, WebDAV, FTP, CIFS, JMS, Jabber IM, and SOAP withattachment.

As shown in FIG. 4, the ESB 505 includes an event bus that, in someembodiments, supports synchronous and asynchronous delivery based on astore-and-forward model. The event bus delivers standard WebServicescommunication via WS notification, event management, distributedtransaction, and reliable messaging. The event bus may also implement anormalized message broker for routing traffic for direct pass-throughand through JMS.

The ESB 505 may provide several functions, including a transformer 531,a rule engine 532, and a smart router 533. A description of thesevarious features follows.

Illustrative embodiments of the transformer 531 are configured to insertbest matching ads in peer-to-peer, peer-to-application, andapplication-to-peer data packet sets. In addition, in some embodiments,the transformer 531 is capable of changing the format of the incomingmessage (or mapping one message format to another format or to aplurality of other formats) to accommodate for differences in formatsand protocols adhered to by the variety of service providers associatedwith the sender and the recipient (e.g., transforming an SMS messageinto an EMS message).

The rule engine 532 is implemented to manage business logic fordelivering ads to different segments of subscribers. For example, therule engine may select, based on a pre-defined and dynamic set of rules,specific ads to be delivered to various subscribers. The embodiment ofthe engine 532 of FIG. 4 is shown to include a Business ProcessOrchestration component that creates custom workflows for content andservice delivery. Embodiments of the rule engine of the invention aregenerally based on well-recognized industry standards such as BusinessProcess Modeling Language and Business Processing Execution Language. Byway of example only, the rule engine 532 may support the followingdefault generic rules.

-   -   Rule I: Find ads with ad content that matches subscriber        profiles, for specific channels and content providers.    -   Rule II: Find ads based on message context by matching message        keywords with subscriber profiles, for specific channels and        content providers.    -   Rule III: Finds ads for subscribers based on their histories of        ad delivery.    -   Rule IV: Prioritize matching ads based on content provider        ratings.

In illustrative embodiments of the present invention, the rule engine532 will find best matching ads based on the limits allowed by unusedspace within data packet sets. The rule engine 532 may be configured todetermine space allocation of a data packet set containing the incomingmessage. The determination of space allocation may include, in specificembodiments, determination of unused space of the data packet notutilized by the sender and, therefore, available for use by theadvertising platform 200 for inserting targeted ads to form an outgoingmessage to the recipient. For example, in the case of incoming textmessage, the rule engine 532 may determine the length of the messageand, by subtracting the determined length from the overall lengthallotted to the message according to the used standard such as GSM03.38, derive the amount of unused space in the incoming message 151. Itwould be understood, however, that in different contexts the unusedspace of the transmitted data packet set may not be a limiting factorfor inserting a targeted advertisement. The content of the insertedtargeted ad is based on the content of the incoming message and/or onthe message-recipient's personal profile stored in database 230 if therecipient subscribes to the services provided by advertising platform200. The derived context of the message is used by the rule engine 532to query a database manager 450 for a matching ad stored in the database440. If content of a given ad is found to match with the context of theincoming message and the recipient's profile, the rule engine 532 mayconsider the ad relevant and choose the ad for insertion within theincoming message to be further delivered to the recipient. As explainedabove, in some embodiments, such as SMS, insertion may be subject to theamount of unused space in the data packet set. The rule engine 532 mayalso use the content of the message to query database manager 450 toretrieve one or more ads from database 440 that are relevant to thesender and may be inserted within a confirmation message generated bymessage generator 250 to be returned to the sender.

Illustrative embodiments of the smart router 533 employ content-basedrouting for publisher models and subscriber models to enable end-pointresolution and end-point selection, and to enable routing based on shortcodes, keywords, and sender and recipient profiles.

Illustrative embodiments of the advertising platform 200 may be open fordevelopers, content providers, and operator systems by implementing aplurality of adaptors and interfaces such as:

-   -   Application interfaces 510, to provide access required for        applications and services such as integration with community        portals, as well content provider and publisher systems for        receiving and retrieving ads from a plurality of content        providers and delivering reports. Such access may be implemented        through Java and web services programming interfaces.    -   Messaging interfaces 520, to support both push and pull models        for sending and receiving messages over mobile operator        networks, either directly or via messaging aggregator        interfaces. These interfaces support a plurality of message        types including inter alia SMS, EMS, MMS and WAP Push, and        support a plurality of network protocols including inter alia        HTTP, SMPP, PAP and MM7.

Various embodiments of the advertising platform of the invention mayprovide a variety of services. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, suchservices may include a subscriber management service 541, a contentmanagement component 542, a device management component 543, and alogging and reporting component 544. The portal modules 551, 552, 553,554 discussed above may support all or some of these services andcomponents.

A description of the abovementioned and various other services,components is provided below. Subscriber management service 541 managesaccounts, devices, groups, service subscriptions, opt-ins and opt-outs,and their inter-relationships. Service 541 also manages associationsbetween user devices and profiles, locales and time zones. Service 541further manages hierarchical groupings of accounts, device profiles, andservice profiles. Service 541 supports advanced personalizationcapability exposed to subscribers and advertisers via the portal 550.The personalization feature provides management of two aspects ofsubscriber accounts, as follows;

-   -   Opt-in / Opt-out for a specific advertisement channel (e.g.,        SMS, EMS, or e-mail).    -   Subscriber personalization of ad delivery, including inter        alia (i) maximum number of ads to receive, and (ii) filters for        specific ads. Service 541 enables subscribers to specify        criteria of interest for ads, and to filter other types of ads        (e.g., a subscriber can select “Sports Equipment” as criteria of        interest, and filters for all other types).

Content management component 542 is responsible for managing the lifecycle of content including inter alia (i) provisioning, (ii)verification, (iii) cataloguing, (iv) publishing, and (v) management.Illustrative embodiments of component 542 manage content based on arepository and registry governance model. Component 542 may also supportauditing, to track and log activities related to content life cycle,thereby enabling report generation, access control and rollback.Component 542 also provide a content discovery capability by enablingimmediate retrieval of ads based on various criteria provided during thecontent provisioning process. Component 542 enables discovery of adsbased on context, demographics, user segmentation, time, and contentmeta-data.

Device management component 543 is responsible for providing deviceregistration, authentication, and authorization. Component 543 alsoprovides device detection for enabling the transformer 531 to performmessage transformation based on device capability. Component 543provides an infrastructure to provision the subscriber client softwareto a subscriber's mobile phone 150 over-the-air, the provisioningincluding (i) client discovery, (ii) download, (iii) activation, (iv)upgrade, and (v) retirement. Component 543 may also include advancedsecurity features such as device block, lock and wipe.

Logging and reporting component 544 provides a central logging moduleused by all services and components including the ESB 505, 531-533,541-543. Component 544 enables logging of transactions, tracking of userinteractions with ads, and reporting on user activities. Its reportingmodule generates different types of reports, for content providers totrack and report on their ad delivery statistics. Component 544 can beintegrated with third party reporting engines, to provide custom reportsfor ads and services. Information that may be tracked includes interalia:

-   -   Number of impressions delivered per day.    -   Subscribers segment targeted by specific ads.    -   Interaction statistics for subscribers that interacted at least        one with a specific ad, through messaging and opening of        associated web links.    -   Market trend for user acceptance of ad formats and quality based        subscribers.    -   Business intelligence for user profiles that interact with        specific ads, including age, user device and geographic        location.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which is a simplified illustration ofan exemplary wireless communication network 100 with mobile phone 150,in which an embodiment of the present invention operates. Shown in FIG.5 is a wireless communications network 300. One example of a wirelessnetwork is a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network. GPRS is apacket-switched service for the Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM), similar to the Internet. GPRS provides packet radio access formobile GSM users. GPRS also supports Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)services.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that althoughwireless communication network 100 is described with reference to GPRSand GSM, the present invention applies to other current and futuretechnologies, including inter alia packet-switched and circuit-switchedtechnologies, and 3G technologies.

Mobile phones 150 communicate with base transceiver stations (BTS) 310via an over-the-air interface. The BTS 310 is a component of wirelesscommunication network 100 that terminate the over-the-air interface,over which subscriber traffic is communicated to and from mobile phones150. The wireless communication network 100 typically includes aplurality of BSCs 320. Wireless communication network 100 also includesbase station controllers (BSC) 320. BSCs 320 are switching modules thatprovide inter alia handoff functions and power level control in each BTS310. BSCs 320 control the interface between a mobile switching center(MSC) 330 and BTS 310, and thus control one or more BTSs in call set-upfunctions, signaling, and use of radio channels. BSCs 320 also controlthe interfaces between Serving GPRS Support Nodes (SGSNs) 340 and BTSs310.

SGSNs 340 service mobile phones 150 by sending or receiving packets viaa base station subsystem (BSS), and more specifically via BSCs 320, inthe context of GSM systems. SGSNs 340 are responsible for delivery ofdata packets to and from mobile phones 150, within a service area. SGSNs340 also perform packet routing and transfer, mobility management, locallink management, authentication and charging functions.

In the exemplary GPRS embodiment of FIG. 5, the local registers of SGSNs340 store location information including inter alia the current cell andvisiting location register (VLR) associated with mobile phones 150, aswell as user profiles such as the International Mobile SubscriberIdentify Number (IMSI) of all GPRS users registered with SGSNs 340, forexample. While GSM forms the underlying technology, SGSNs 340 arenetwork elements introduced through GPRS technology.

Another network element introduced in the GPRS context is the gatewayGPRS support node (GGSN) 350, which acts as a gateway between the GPRSnetwork 300 and other networks. In the embodiments shown in FIG. 5, theGGSN acts as a gateway between the GPRS network 350 and a WAP gateway360. The WAP gateway 360 provide mobile phones 150 with access toInternet 400 and to advertising platform 200, respectively. In thismanner, the advertising platform 200 has an IP network connection to thewireless communication network. In some embodiments, the advertisingplatform 200 may be embodied as server connected to the Internet 400,which is operated by ad agencies or content providers, or both.Advertising platform 430 accesses a database 440 of advertisements, fortargeting ads to mobile phones 150, as described in detail hereinabovewith reference to FIGS. 1- 4.

WAP enhances the functionality of mobile phones 150 through a variety ofreal-time interactive wireless services over the Internet. WAP alsoallows content to be delivered over any bearer service, even whendelivery of services is enabled over GPRS, 3G or any other such network.Application developers may use WAP to develop new services, and to adaptInternet applications for use with mobile phones 150. Applications maybe written in Wireless Markup Language (WMP) and WMLScript (WMLS). Theapplications are stored on a proxy server or directly on WAP gateway360, or both. Content stored on the proxy server is accessible frommobile phones 150 via GPRS network 110, GGSN 350 and WAP gateway 360.

Mobile phones 150 may access WAP-gateway 360 using a GSM-data call,where it supplies a user-agent field within a Wireless Session Protocol(WSP) header when fetching content from the proxy server. WAP gateway360 encapsulates the WSP header within an HTTP header prior toforwarding to web server 420. The WSP header is used by web server 420to inter alia determine the capabilities of mobile phones 150 andthereby deliver suitable content to mobile phones 150 by web server 420.

Advertising platform 200 may also have IP network connectivity to ashort message service center (SMSC) 450 and/or a multimedia messagingservice center (MMSC) 460. The SMSC 450 is a network element in thewireless communication network 100 which delivers SMS messages to andfrom mobile phones. The advertising platform 200 may communicate withthe SMSC 450 using a number of different protocols such as SMPP, UCP, orCIMD. The MMSC 460 is a network element in the wireless communicationnetwork 100 which delivers MMS messages. The MMSC 460 is typicallyresponsible for content adaptation of MMS messages. The advertisingplatform 200 may communicate with the MMSC 460 using, for example, anMM7 protocol.

The advertising platform 200 may also have IP network connectivity witha SIP/Media gateway 480 on the Internet 400. In this manner, using, forexample, a session initial protocol (SIP), the advertising platform 200will have access to multimedia services over the Internet 400 such asIM. The SIP/Media gateway 480 may also provide advertising platform 200with access to the communications between the mobile phone 150 and awireless internet connection 490, such as a WiFi network.

In illustrative embodiments of the present invention, the advertisingplatform 200 will be connected to an IP network connection. The IPnetwork connectivity of the advertising platform 200 and its placementon the IP layer of the wireless communications network provideillustrative embodiments of the present invention with severaladvantageous, in distinction to prior art systems, which interceptmessages at the signaling layer 470 using the SS7 protocol of thewireless communications network. Because of the platforms 200 placementon the IP layer, the advertising platform 200 (and its operatingadvertisers) may have access to message communication in the wirelesscommunications network. This information is typically only accessible tonetwork operators and service providers at the signaling layer.Placement at the IP layer also allows the advertising platform 200 toreceive messages from a variety of different sources inter alia SMSCs,MMSCs, WAP gateways, and SIP/Media gateways. Furthermore, the IP networkconnection of the advertising platform 200 provides it with IPMultimedia subsystem (IMS) compatibility. In distinction to theillustrative embodiments of the present invention, the prior art systemsinsert advertisements into peer-to-peer SMS messages, but interceptionof incoming message takes place at the signaling layer of the wirelesscommunications network.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6, which is a simplified flow chart of asender workflow for message-based advertising, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. The steps shown in FIG. 6 areperformed by a message-based advertising system, such as advertisingplatform 200 of FIG. 3. At step 610, receiver 210 receives a message,such as message 151 of FIG. 1, from a sender for deliver to a recipient.For the case illustrated in FIG. 6, it is assumed that the sender is asubscriber of advertising platform 200, and the recipient is not asubscriber. At step 620, advertising platform 200 queries databasemanager 240 to look up the personal profile of the sender in subscriberprofile database 230. At step 630, context analyzer 270 analyzes themessage and derives a context thereof.

At step 640, advertising platform 200 queries database manager 450 todiscover one or more ads in advertisement database 440 that match thesender profile identifier at step 620 and the message context identifiedat step 630. At step 650, transmitter 220 transmits the message to therecipient.

At step 660, message generator 250 generates a delivery confirmationmessage, such as message 152, which includes one or more of the adsdiscovered at step 640. Finally, at step 670, transmitter 220 transmitsthe confirmation message to the sender.

Reference is now made to FIG. 7, which is a simplified flow chart of arecipient workflow for message-based advertising, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. The steps shown in FIG. 7 areperformed by a message-based advertising system, such as advertisingplatform 200 of FIG. 3. At step 710, receiver 210 receives a message,such as message 151 of FIG. 1, from a sender for delivery to arecipient. At step 720 a determination is made whether or not therecipient is a subscriber to advertising platform 200. Suchdetermination may be made by referencing subscriber profile database 230to see if a profile exists for the recipient, or by any other manner ofsubscriber identification. If the recipient is not a subscriber then, atstep 730, transmitter 220 sends the message as-is to the recipient.

If the recipient is a subscriber then, at step 740, advertising platform200 queries database manager 240 to look up the personal profile of therecipient in subscriber profile database 230. At step 750, contextanalyzer 270 analyzes the message and derives a context thereof

At step 760, advertising platform 200 queries database manager 450 todiscover one or more ads in advertisement database 440 that match therecipient profile identifier at step 740 and the message contextidentified at step 750.

At step 770, message transformer/attacher 260 inserts one or more of theads discovered at step 760 into the message, to generate a transformedmessage, such as message 161. Finally, at step 780, transmitter 220transmits the transformed message to the recipient.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a flow chart showing processing steps foran e-mail conversion system in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention. This embodiment may be realized by incorporation ofthe processes described herein in the advertising platform 200 describedpreviously. Alternatively, the processes may be implemented in lieu ofthe advertising insertion processes described previously. The processesherein enable efficient processing of e-mails delivered in protocolssuch as POP, IMAP or other Web based interfaces for push-basednotifications to users in a format suitable for a mobile telephone, suchas SMS, MMS, OMA-EMN or WAP Push. In process 81, a server fetches emailsof multiple users using the relevant protocols of POP, IMAP or other Webbased interfaces; previously each of the users shall have made availableto the server in a secure manner the information such as e-mail serviceprovider, user name, and password, so that the information can be usedin the course of fetching. The e-mail service providers may includethose operating, for example, gmail, yahoo, hotmail, or AOL.

The embodiment of FIG. 8 takes advantage of the fact that emails areoften addressed to more than one individual. Ordinarily, and in priorart systems, where e-mails of many users are being handled, the sameemail would have to be fetched and cached more than once by thesystem--once for each recipient. In the present embodiment, in process82, in the course of fetching, there is identified each e-mail targetedto multiple recipients. The purpose of this process is to avoid fetchingany e-mail more than once. Consequently, the identified e-mail is usedto prevent, in process 83, a second fetch. Such prevention may beaccomplished by methods known in the art, such as making and caching ahash of the stored e-mail and using the hash to assist in identifyingduplicates that need not be fetched. In process 84, the server causesthe sending of notification of an e-mail to each recipient of an e-mailthat has been fetched in process 81. Subsequently, upon notification,the user may operate the mobile telephone to retrieve further content ofthe e-mail as desired in a manner known in the art. Illustrativeembodiments thus optimize the system scalability by reducingdramatically the load of the fetching module. Additionally, illustrativeembodiments may save storage space for storing emails and theirattachments because storing redundant copies is avoided.

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention may include thefollowing advantageous:

-   -   Seamless client provisioning, service provisioning (opt-in /        opt-out) and personalization through a web portal and mobile        client interfaces.    -   Seamless delivery of ads using available delivery channels,        including SMS, WAP Push, HTTP download, and HTTP streaming.    -   Service personalization for different features, including        providers, keyword matching, and filtering for opted-in content        channels.    -   Ad interaction including promotional campaign reply to short        code and active links, content sharing and coupon redemption.    -   Portal for content providers and ad agencies to manage the life        cycle of ad delivery, including ad provisioning and publishing,        delivery workflow, policy management, and ad update and        retirement.    -   Ad delivery, tracking and business intelligence, reporting on        various types of information including number of impressions,        service penetration, market segmentation, and service and ad        interaction.

The present invention may be embodied in many different forms,including, but in no way limited to, computer program logic for use witha processor (e.g., a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signalprocessor, or general purpose computer), programmable logic for use witha programmable logic device (e.g., a Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) or other PLD), discrete components, integrated circuitry (e.g.,an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)), or any other meansincluding any combination thereof.

Computer program logic implementing all or part of the functionalitypreviously described herein may be embodied in various forms, including,but in no way limited to, a source code form, a computer executableform, and various intermediate forms (e.g., forms generated by anassembler, compiler, linker, or locator). Source code may include aseries of computer program instructions implemented in any of variousprogramming languages (e.g., an object code, an assembly language, or ahigh-level language such as Fortran, C, C++, JAVA, or HTML) for use withvarious operating systems or operating environments. The source code maydefine and use various data structures and communication messages. Thesource code may be in a computer executable form (e.g., via aninterpreter), or the source code may be converted (e.g., via atranslator, assembler, or compiler) into a computer executable form.

The computer program may be fixed in any form (e.g., source code form,computer executable form, or an intermediate form) either permanently ortransitorily in a tangible storage medium, such as a semiconductormemory device (e.g., a RAM, ROM, PROM, EEPROM, or Flash-ProgrammableRAM), a magnetic memory device (e.g., a diskette or fixed disk), anoptical memory device (e.g., a CD-ROM), a PC card (e.g., PCMCIA card),or other memory device. The computer program may be fixed in any form ina signal that is transmittable to a computer using any of variouscommunication technologies, including, but in no way limited to, analogtechnologies, digital technologies, optical technologies, wirelesstechnologies, networking technologies, and internetworking technologies.The computer program may be distributed in any form as a removablestorage medium with accompanying printed or electronic documentation(e.g., shrink wrapped software or a magnetic tape), preloaded with acomputer system (e.g., on system ROM or fixed disk), or distributed froma server or electronic bulletin board over the communication system(e.g., the Internet or World Wide Web.)

Hardware logic (including programmable logic for use with a programmablelogic device) implementing all or part of the functionality previouslydescribed herein may be designed using traditional manual methods, ormay be designed, captured, simulated, or documented electronically usingvarious tools, such as Computer Aided Design (CAD), a hardwaredescription language (e.g., VHDL or AHDL), or a PLD programming language(e.g., PALASM, ABEL, or CUPL.)

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described andillustrated with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. Itwill, however, be evident that the specific exemplary embodiments arenot intended to be limiting, and various modifications and changes maybe made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spiritand scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. Forexample, a proposed method and system may be utilized in conjunctionwith virtually any messaging gateway, allowing for sending and receivingof messages to or from devices to provide wireless network connectivityamong the parties and operating under a variety of standards, orcombination thereof Embodiments of the invention can be incorporatedinto various corporate environments to enhance a company's communicationcapabilities and to realize various functions. By way of example only,embodiments of the advertising platform of the invention may be usedwith gateways that facilitate wireless data-packet traffic among varioussending and receiving devices such as, for example, mobile phones,land-line phones, mail servers, and Email clients. The appliancefunctions, performed by devices participating in communication with theadvertising platform of the invention may include, for example,databases, web-scripts (such as PHP, ASP, JSP or others), or computerWidgets (MAC X OS, Windows, Linux etc). For high-volume SMS traffic, theembodiments of the invention may be associated with IP SMS gatewaysknown in the art, while the Skype clients may use services of thedescribed platform through Skype SMS access. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for message-basedadvertising in a wireless communications network, comprising: receivingthrough a network connection a digital message, wherein the digitalmessage is contained in a data packet set in transit from a terminal ofa sender to a terminal of a recipient and wherein at least one of theterminals is implemented as a mobile telephone; using a processor todetermine a context for the digital message and to match the determinedmessage context with content of advertisements stored in anadvertisement database to identify at least one relevant advertisement;transmitting the data packet set to the terminal of the recipient; usinga processor to retrieve from the advertisement database the at least onerelevant advertisement and to generate a confirmation message containinga delivery status of the data packet set, the confirmation messageincluding the at least one relevant advertisement; and transmitting theconfirmation message to the terminal of the sender.
 2. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the network connection is an IP networkconnection.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the confirmationmessage is responsive to a delivery request made by the sender.
 4. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the confirmation message is anacknowledgment of receipt of the digital message.
 5. A method accordingto claim 1, further comprising: using a processor to insert at least onerelevant advertisement into the data packet set before it is transmittedto the recipient.
 6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:retrieving a recipient profile stored in a profile database, therecipient subscribing for wireless message-based advertising; using therecipient profile and the context for the digital message to identifythe at least one recipient-relevant advertisement; and using a processorto insert the least one recipient-relevant advertisement into the datapacket set.
 7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:retrieving a sender profile stored in a profile database, the sendersubscribing for wireless message-based advertising; using the senderprofile and the context for the digital message to identify at least onesender-relevant advertisement; and using a processor to generate theconfirmation message containing the delivery status of the data packetset, the confirmation message including the at least one sender-relevantadvertisement.
 8. A method according to any of claims 1, wherein boththe terminal of the sender and the terminal of the recipient are mobiletelephones.
 9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the digitalmessage is transformed from one communications protocol to another. 10.A method according to claim 1, wherein any of an audio clip, image, andvideo is attached to the digital message.
 11. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the transmitted digital message is in any one of a SMS,concatenated SMS, EMS, MMS and WAP Push protocol.
 12. A wirelessmessage-based advertising system, comprising: a first digital storagemedium in which is stored an advertisement database, each advertisementfrom the advertisement database characterized by content; a receiver forreceiving a digital message through a network connection, wherein thedigital message is contained in a data packet set in transit from aterminal of a sender to a terminal of a recipient and wherein at leastone of the terminals is implemented as a mobile telephone; a contextanalyzer configured to determine a context of the digital message; arule engine configured to match the determined message context withcontent of advertisements stored in an advertisement database toidentify at least one relevant advertisement; a database manager forretrieving the at least one relevant advertisement from theadvertisement database; a message generator for generating aconfirmation message containing a delivery status of the data packetset, the confirmation message including the at least one relevantadvertisement; and a transmitter for transmitting the data packet set tothe terminal of the recipient and for transmitting the confirmation tothe terminal of the sender.
 13. A system according to claim 12, whereinthe network connection is an IP network connection.
 14. A systemaccording to claim 12, further comprising: a message transformer thatinserts the at least one relevant advertisement into the data packet setbefore it is transmitted to the recipient.
 15. A system according toclaim 12, further comprising: a second digital storage medium in whichis stored a profile database containing profiles of senders, the sendersbeing subscribers to the wireless message-based advertising system. 16.A system according to claim 15, wherein the database manager is furtherconfigured to retrieve a sender profile stored in the profile databaseand the rule engine is further configured to use the sender profile andthe context for the digital message to identify the at least onerelevant advertisement.
 17. A system according to claim 12, wherein boththe terminal of the sender and the terminal of the recipient are mobiletelephones.
 18. A system according to claim 12, wherein the messagetransformer is further configured to transform the digital message fromone communications protocol to another.
 19. A system according to claim12, wherein the message transformer is further configured to attach anyof an audio clip, image, and video to the digital message.
 20. A systemaccording to claim 12, wherein the transmitted digital message is in anyone of a SMS, concatenated SMS, EMS, MMS, or WAP Push protocol.
 21. Acomputer-implemented method for message-based advertising in a wirelesscommunications network, comprising: receiving through a networkconnection a digital message, wherein the digital message is containedin a data packet set in a first communications protocol in transit froma terminal of a sender to a terminal of a recipient and wherein at leastone of the terminals is implemented as a mobile telephone; using aprocessor to determine a context for the digital message and to matchthe determined message context with content of advertisements stored inan advertisement database to identify at least one relevantadvertisement; retrieving from the advertisement database the at leastone relevant advertisement; using a processor to insert the at least onerelevant advertisement into the data packet set to transform the datapacket set from the first communications protocol to a secondcommunications protocol; and transmitting the data packet set to theterminal of the recipient.
 22. A method according to claim 21, whereinthe network connection is an IP network connection.
 23. A methodaccording to claim 21, further comprising: retrieving a recipientprofile stored in a profile database, the recipient subscribing forwireless message-based advertising; and using the recipient profile andthe context for the digital message to identify the at least onerelevant advertisement.
 24. A method according to claim 21, the methodfurther comprises: retrieving a sender profile stored in a profiledatabase, the sender subscribing for wireless message-based advertising;using the sender profile and the context for the digital message toidentify at least one sender-relevant advertisement; and using aprocessor to generate a confirmation message containing a deliverystatus of the data packet set, the confirmation message including the atleast one sender-relevant advertisement.
 25. A method according to anyof claims 21, wherein both the terminal of the sender and the terminalof the recipient are mobile telephones.
 26. A method according to claim21, wherein the data packet set includes a digital text message, andfurther comprising determining an amount of unused space in the datapacket set.
 27. A method according to claim 21, wherein any of an audioclip, image, and video is attached to the data packet set.
 28. A methodaccording to claim 21, wherein the first communications protocol is anSMS protocol.
 29. A method according to claim 21, wherein the secondcommunications protocol is any one of a concatenated SMS, EMS, MMS, andWAP Push protocol.
 30. A wireless message-based advertising system,comprising: a first digital storage medium in which is stored anadvertisement database, each advertisement from the advertisementdatabase characterized by content; a receiver for receiving an digitalmessage through a network connection, wherein the digital message iscontained in a data packet set in a first communications protocol intransit from a terminal of a sender to a terminal of a recipient andwherein at least one of the terminals is implemented as a mobiletelephone; a context analyzer configured to determine a context of thedigital message; a rule engine configured to match the determinedmessage context with content of advertisements stored in anadvertisement database to identify at least one relevant advertisement;a database manager for retrieving the at least one relevantadvertisement from the advertisement database; a message transformerthat inserts the at least one relevant advertisement into the datapacket set to transform the data packet set from the firstcommunications protocol to a second communications protocol; and atransmitter for transmitting the data packet set to the terminal of therecipient.
 31. A system according to claim 30, wherein the networkconnection is an IP network connection.
 32. A system according to claim30, further comprising: a second digital storage medium in which isstored a profile database containing profiles of recipients, therecipients being subscribers to the wireless message-based advertisingsystem.
 33. A system according to claim 32, wherein the database manageris further configured to retrieve a recipient profile stored in theprofile database and the rule engine is further configured to use therecipient profile and the context for the digital message to identifythe at least one relevant advertisement.
 34. A system according to claim30, wherein both the terminal of the sender and the terminal of therecipient are mobile telephones.
 35. A system according to claim 30,wherein the data packet set includes a digital text message, and therule engine is further configured to determine an amount of unused spacein the data packet set.
 36. A system according to claim 30, wherein anyof an audio clip, image, and video is attached to the data packet set.37. A system according to claim 30, wherein the first communicationsprotocol is an SMS protocol.
 38. A system according to claim 30, whereinthe second communications protocol is any one of a concatenated SMS,EMS, MMS and WAP Push protocol.
 39. A computer-implemented method forproviding mobile telephone users with notification of e-mails, themethod comprising: fetching e-mails of the users; in the course offetching, identifying each e-mail targeted to multiple recipients, andavoiding the fetching of any previously fetched e-mail targeted tomultiple recipients; and sending a notification of receipt of an e-mailto each user with respect to whom an e-mail has been fetched.